100 days in Cairo

Although we left Canberra well over four months ago, with all the travel we've done, we've just hit 100 days in Cairo.  When I think of everything we have accomplished, I'm amazed at how settled and relaxed we feel after such a short time.  To recap, here's what we've done:

• Found an apartment, moved in, and made reasonable progress fixing up the long list of things that don't work - plumbing, curtains, water pressure, kitchen cupboards, the washing machine...you get the picture. 
• Finn has started nursery school and is spending his days colouring, singing and being drilled on his ABC.  
• We've got a car and we're looking forward to excursions to the Red Sea.
• We've done some great travel - Austria, Hungary, Germany and Italy.  And, we've seen a decent hunk of Cairo - the Giza pyramids, the City of the Dead, Coptic Cairo, Islamic Cairo, Zamalek and the Nile.
• We've discovered where to find those little things that make all the difference to your life in a new city, like good bread and gelato, organic vegetables, authentic Thai and Australian meat.  We've erased from our memories the many versions we had to try before we hit the jackpot; it's all part of the experience. 
• We're learning about the Egyptian culture and language.  John's Arabic is sounding pretty good, and we are adjusting to life in Egypt.  Even Finn's on board - last night he pretended to have a picnic on the living room floor on his "prayer mat". 

And lastly, but most importantly, we've started to make some friends.  Like most expat communities, the people here are extremely welcoming; our neighbourhood is particularly friendly.  We went to a great party on the weekend.  In fact, it may have been the best party we've ever been to.  Our neighbours organised it, calling it their 'we're still in Cairo' party.  They had a see-through dance floor constructed over their pool, hired the hottest DJ in Cairo, had a belly dancer, barmen serving cocktails and a breakout shisha area.  The music was so loud in their backyard that you couldn't have a proper conversation with anyone, and they played the music like that until 1:30 am until a blackout cut the power (coincidence? I don't think so).  I joked that they had to invite us otherwise we would have called the police...I was only half joking.  It was a great night.

Even though Cairo is this wild, crazy city that offers us so much, I still miss Canberra, particularly when I look at this photo which was taken on the day we left.
That big smile, the trees in the background, space to run around.  I can see I'm going to spend the next three years wanting to be in two places at once - the fresh air of Canberra and the big city Cairo.  The life of an expat.